A Function-Oriented Comparative Study Of Alice In Wonderland In Chinese Translations

This thesis is a function-oriented and comparative case study of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland in Chinese Translations within the framework of Descriptive Translation Studies(DTS).DTS is a model "describing,explaining and predicting translation phenomena".DTS is a study of the internal organization of the three approaches:function-oriented,process-oriented,and product-oriented.The (prospective) systemic position and function of the translations determines their surface realization or textual-linguistic make-up,and thus governs the strategies translators adopt.The main goal of DTS is to observe the function of a translation or translations.The comprehensive study of DTS forms the theoretical basis and provides the research methodology for this thesis.Children's literature has different functions and is read for various purposes.By far, a widely accepted idea of the functions of children's literature can be summed up in two respects:entertainment and education.Being entertaining is the first requirement of children's literature in order to attract young readers;On the other hand,it's undeniable that children's literature has a function of education.Child development theories provide a new perspective for the understanding of children's literary appreciation,which will guide children's literature writers/translators for children in their creative work and also in translation criticism.Therefore,these versions can enjoy not only perceptual appreciation but also theoretical understanding.Thus,translation criticism becomes polysystemic and lenient.The function-oriented approach also determines the selection of the case material. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland has served both entertainment and education.The book was created for the amusement of three young girls.Fully aware of such a function,Carroll adopts the strategy to use numerous witty words,puns and humorous expressions which often arouses people's interest.It is also in the word plays that the book has successfully functioned as an interesting path to children's language development.The Chinese translations of this book have similar functions,which require the translators to adopt suitable translating strategies to retain the entertaining and educational functions.Besides the general functions of children's literature,the Chinese translations in different time and cultural backgrounds have other special functions.For example,Zhao's version in the special cultural background of vernacular movement endows his translations with a special function of promoting the use of vernacular language;while contemporary translations have a stronger tendency to introduce the foreign cultural,some of which serves as a tool for English language learners.Such functional difference also calls for different translation strategies and results in variations of features in the exemplary translations.The case study of the Chinese versions of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland differs from the traditional way of looking for a standard for translation from a linguistic-only perspective,but rather put children's literature in a larger environment of study--culture;a cognitive perspective is also put into use.It does not focus on the specific translation strategies but studies the variables that may affect the translation strategies.The comprehensive study conducted in the thesis is another experimentation to find out how translators' awareness of the functions of children's readings will affect their work and the strategies they adopt.